Runemaker, page 18
They unfurled before him, a long, sinuous line of smoke and power. With every breath, he inhaled the heavy, heady scent. With every breath, he felt them settle into his bones.
His vision swam. The room faded, became a darkness that felt familiar. Comforting. Like the heavy black he’d felt in the Witches’ vision. He was safe here. Safe.
And then, he heard the Violet Sage scream.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
DREYA
Dreya had her hand to the Guild door when she heard it. Felt it. In the very depths of her bones, she heard the scream.
She gasped, her breath catching in her throat.
It wasn’t a scream of pain. No.
Despair.
The worst type of despair.
The knowledge that all was lost.
She turned to her brother, whose eyes were wide.
“Did you feel—?” she asked aloud, so shocked she couldn’t even think it his way.
He nodded.
So did Kianna.
“The hell was that?” she asked.
They looked behind them. Other Hunters had similarly paused, faces slack with shock.
“Dreya,” Kianna said. And there was no mistaking it—there was fear in her voice. Just as there was no mistaking that it was not a sensation Kianna was used to. “What was that?”
Dreya couldn’t answer. She couldn’t even swallow. She stared at the frozen Hunters behind them, at her brother, at Kianna. All she could feel was the shock of that scream. All she knew was that the worst that could happen, had happened.
“The Violet Sage,” Devon said for her. “She has been discovered.”
Dreya shook her head. Tenn. What has happened to Tenn?
“We are too late,” Dreya whispered. “The Dark Lady has found her. She has been taken.”
CHAPTER FIFTY
AIDAN
“And how exactly is she going to help bring my mother back?” Aidan growled, staring at the creepy girl bound to the chair before them.
The Dark Lady prowled around the chair like a panther, staring at the Violet Sage with a smug look on her face. Runes formed a ring around the girl on the floor, runes in a language Aidan found he knew as well as his own, even though the Dark Lady had carved them. They were similar to the ones on the Dark Lady’s tomb—runes for imprisonment, for silence. And others he knew far too well, runes that weren’t runes at all, but the mark the Church had used against him, to cut the girl off from magic.
Which was good, since she could apparently use all of it.
The Dark Lady didn’t answer. He was used to that by now.
The girl didn’t struggle against the ropes. He’d tied them himself, his one contribution to this entire bit of fuckery. He’d had plenty of practice tying knots, and plenty of guys to practice them on. Before. Now, he couldn’t even imagine finding a partner worth his time.
Now that Tomás was gone...
He pulled through Fire and tried to ignore the fact that the incubus was still nearby, lying in a pool of blood in the dungeons. Tried to ignore that he had killed the Kin, even though...even though, yes, he had fallen for the creature.
That was why he’d had to kill Tomás. Not just because he couldn’t trust the Kin—after all, Tomás had already tried to kill him once—but because he couldn’t trust himself around him. Aidan had to keep a clear head. And that meant things like romance were a liability.
Something he understood much, much better than their other prisoner in the room next door.
Tenn had put up even less of a struggle than the Violet Sage. It probably helped that he looked drugged out when Aidan and the Dark Lady had swept in and dragged them both back here.
“Do you remember them?” the Dark Lady asked Aidan. “The runes she showed him? The ones he used to access Maya?”
Aidan nodded. He also remembered the Violet Sage’s warning. He wanted power, but he didn’t want to risk dying—or whatever she meant—if Maya refused him. He couldn’t imagine the Sphere would take too kindly to his history.
“Show them to me,” the Dark Lady demanded, finally bringing her attention back to Aidan.
“You don’t have to do this,” whispered a voice in his head. He knew it was the Violet Sage. Just as he knew she was wrong.
He pulled deeper through Fire and twined the flame around his fingers, arcing a line of fire before him, manipulating and twisting it into runes. Even just looking at them made him feel funny, heavy, like he was stoned. The room wanted to give way, wanted to swallow him. So he looked at the stones at his feet and tried to stay grounded.
“Good,” the Dark Lady said. She stepped forward, the hem of her violet dress the only thing he could see. It pooled at her feet like oil. “Very good.”
He couldn’t help it. Even that little bit of praise helped win him over. A smile flitted over his lips.
He let go of the runes; they flurried around his fingers like fireworks. When he looked up, she was standing once more before the Violet Sage.
“You worked your whole life to hide this knowledge from me,” the Dark Lady said. “You were nearly successful. Nearly.”
She prowled around the girl, her glee palpable. But there was a darkness there, a hurt that ran deep.
“I have watched you. All of you. From the doorstep of death I have watched as you fling yourselves at Maya. And I know what you think. I know you believe you must be worthy to attain that power, that the Sphere would never bend to one such as me. You believe it is a god. You couldn’t be further from the truth. You must merely be willing to die, to give your soul over. Maya is no god, holds no judgment. Maya is the Sphere of gods. And I, little one, have been close to death for four long years. I am already a goddess in the hearts of mankind. Now, I may take the powers of one.”
She turned to Aidan.
“Watch her. Ensure that she does not escape.” She smiled. Maybe it was his imagination, but she actually looked happy. “It is time for me to ascend.”
He didn’t need to ask her what she meant. She was already considered the Goddess of Death. Now, she wanted to truly take on that role.
“And then you help me get my mother back,” he said.
Something shifted in her expression. The smile stayed, but it no longer looked sincere. Or maybe it was his imagination.
“Of course,” she said. “Once I have Maya, we will do everything we desire.”
She turned and left the room, leaving him alone with the Violet Sage and a terrible feeling in his gut not even Fire could burn away.
* * *
“You can still make this right.”
The girl’s voice echoed in his head. He sat in front of her, hands to his temples, staring at the runes glowing on the floor, trying to pick them apart, to understand them, to find ways to manipulate or restructure them. Not because he was inquisitive, but because he was bored, and it helped him ignore the voice in his head that would. Not. Stop.
He growled in the back of his throat and considered just opening to Fire and shutting her up for good. Though he had a feeling the Dark Lady wouldn’t appreciate that very much. He was beginning to not care. What had she done for him so far? He’d given her everything she’d asked for, and she hadn’t delivered on a single promise. He didn’t rule the world. He didn’t have a throne. He didn’t have omnipotent power. And he didn’t have his mother back.
All he had were more promises, more demands.
More pleas from the bound girl before him.
The runes around her stopped magic. Maybe he could figure out a way to make them stop her telepathy, or whatever it was.
“Please, Aidan,” she continued. “I know what is in your heart. You don’t want to do this. You have no idea what she is planning. She is using you. Only using you.”
“Shut up!” Fire flared around him, sparks burning bright, missiles ready to launch. He jumped to his feet and glared at her, hands clenched into fists. “You don’t know anything. I’m not being used. I’m using her.”
“We both know that is not true,” she thought. Her eyes were pleading, but they weren’t afraid. At least, not for herself. She seemed terrified for him. That, more than anything, pissed him off. “Release me from here. I can help you. I can—”
“Right,” he growled. “You can help me. Just like you’ve helped me all these years. Just like you helped save my mother and the rest of humanity, oh great and powerful one. Oh, wait, you haven’t. You haven’t done jack shit with all of your power. You know what I think?” He took a step closer, the flames around him burning brighter. “I think you’re just scared that someone else has come along that is more powerful than you. You don’t want to be usurped.”
“She will never be more powerful than I. Even with Maya, she—”
“Not her, you idiot. Me. You know I could break this world if I wanted. That scares you. You want me to let you out so you can try to kill me. So you can keep me from becoming the king I’m meant to be.”
She shook her head. “That is not true. I can help you, Aidan.”
“You say you’ve seen into my heart. If that’s so, can you bring my mother back?”
She didn’t answer.
“I thought not,” he said.
“Neither can she.”
“But she’ll try. And if she fails, I’ll kill her.”
“You cannot kill the Goddess of Death. Not with what she is about to become.”
“Watch me,” he replied. “Now shut the hell up. You’re giving me a headache.”
He went to sit back down, but her words stopped him.
“She would never have wanted this of you. You know that, deep in your heart. Your mother would never have wanted you to hurt like this. Or to cause this much hurt.”
“Don’t you dare!” he yelled. “Don’t you dare talk about her. You never knew her.”
He pulled through Fire until he was nearly blinded by the brilliance around and within him.
“I know more than you think,” she said.
And there, through the light, he saw her.
She stood behind the Violet Sage wearing the same cardigan she’d worn the last day he’d seen her. Only this one wasn’t ripped to shreds. She smiled at him sadly, her hands on the Violet Sage’s shoulders. He nearly dropped to his knees.
“It’s okay, honey,” his mother said. “Everything is going to be okay. I know you never wanted this. I know you’ve just been hurting. We can make it right, I promise. You just need to untie this girl. Get her and the boy out of here. And then we can end this. We can make it right.”
“Mom,” he gasped.
She nodded.
“No.” He squeezed his hands to his forehead, blocked out his vision. “No, you aren’t here. You’re dead. I saw you die. This is just an illusion.”
“No illusion, Aidan. I am here. I have waited so long to reach out to you. There’s still time to fix this. To fix everything. You just have to trust me, baby. You just have to let her go.”
“No!” Fire swirled around him, a billow that swept across the room and would have incinerated the girl if not for the wards imprisoning her. And protecting her from him. It was enough, however, to make the vision of his mother disappear.
He didn’t want it to disappear.
“Get out of my head,” he growled. He tapped his temple. “Stay. Out. Or next time I’ll make sure the flames hit you.”
“Aidan—”
He stumbled. The room tilted. Wavered. As if a heat mirage on the brink of dispersing, before solidifying again.
The Violet Sage’s eyes widened.
“The hell was that?” he asked.
She didn’t answer, not right away. When she did, even her thoughts were hushed.
“She succeeded. Maya has embraced her.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
DREYA
“We must hurry,” Dreya said.
Hunters scurried around them, shouting out in confusion as, deep within the Guild, a bell tolled—a signal for an emergency meeting, for order. Everyone had felt the Violet Sage’s cries. But did they know the true weight of that fear? The true penalty to Aidan’s crime? Perhaps only she and her companions understood the threat. But they could not risk hesitating or turning back. They couldn’t aid the Guild. Not like this.
“Where are we going?” Kianna asked.
Dreya looked to her brother. He nodded.
“To the Witches.” She looked to Kianna. “That was the Violet Sage. Aidan has brought the Dark Lady to her. We must rally all who can use magic. All who can read the runes. The final battle comes.”
Despite everything, there was no excitement on Kianna’s features. Dreya knew her well enough to know she lived for bloodshed and battle, just as she knew Kianna understood the true weight of this proclamation.
“And Aidan?” she asked. “Tenn?”
Dreya shook her head. “We have to hope they are both still alive. They have created this. They must end it.”
“But what have they created?”
A pause.
“There is only one reason the Dark Lady would seek the Violet Sage. She wishes to attune to Maya. And then...”
“And then? Isn’t that enough?”
Dreya shook her head.
“The Dark Lady will continue her work. She wanted to create a true immortal, a creature not even God could bend. A force the world has never seen.” She swallowed. “Once she has Maya, she will learn how to drain it from others.”
Kianna’s eyes widened. “She’s going to create a Wight.”
“Yes. The question is simply whom she will pick as a host.”
But deep down, Dreya already knew. The Dark Lady wouldn’t seek to create a simple Howl. She would want to create a Kin. One who could wield magic. And she wouldn’t settle for Tenn or Aidan, mages who could wield two Spheres at most. She now had the one mage who could wield all four.
“We have to stop her,” Kianna growled. “We can track down Tenn. Finish them before it begins.”
“That would be suicide. The Dark Lady cannot be taken unawares. If she is already attuned to Maya, we would be killed before we even had a chance. We must gather our defenses.”
“But we could still—”
“No. It is already too late. The boys will be fine. I know it in my heart. But they will need us. They will need to return to something safe. They will need an army to lead. And only we can create that.”
Kianna swallowed. She didn’t like this. Truth be told, neither did Dreya. She would much rather teleport in and steal the boys from the Dark Lady. But she knew Aidan was lost to them, and they would have Tenn under lock and key.
She also knew her words were a lie.
The boys couldn’t finish this. The boys would never make it out alive.
They were on their own.
“Come,” Dreya said, brushing the fear away with a gust of Air. “We have work to do.”
She traced the runes of travel in the dust at their feet, and as they opened to their powers, she prayed to every spirit listening that they still had a chance to make things right.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
AIDAN
Aidan took an involuntary step back when the door opened and the Dark Lady stepped through. The very air around her wavered, as though she were the center of a rippling pond. Her dress billowed in an unfelt breeze, her blond hair a halo. She practically floated above the concrete floor.
“My Hunter,” she said, her voice once more its oceanic hum, a thrum that vibrated deep in his chest. “We have succeeded.”
Her words filled him with a new sensation: dread.
Because in those words was another proclamation: she had everything she needed, which meant she no longer had use for him. His single ace of reading the runes was spent. He just had to hope she still wanted him around. That his insight into the runes might still prove useful.
As he watched her fucking billow toward the Violet Sage, he doubted that insight accounted for much anymore.
“And now,” the Dark Lady said, “I believe we have some unfinished business.”
“My mother—” Aidan said, his voice quiet.
The Dark Lady turned to him, her eyes flashing, the air moving about her like a living, breathing thing. He stepped back.
“Your mother can wait. We still have many who would oppose us. Many who will rise up to defend this wretch the moment they realize she has gone. The moment they realize what I have become.”
Immediately, Tenn’s face flashed through Aidan’s mind. But the boy wasn’t a threat. He was bound and gagged and magically sealed off next door. What threat could he be? What threat could anyone else pose against...this?
“Go back to the island,” she said. “Kill all who dwell there. We cannot risk the powers of Maya falling into anyone else’s hands. We cannot risk a true rebellion.”
He almost wanted to tell her to do it her damn self. Almost. He might have been angry, but he wasn’t an idiot.
This would prove him useful to her.
Would endear him to her.
And maybe, when he was done, he could have his mother back.
Maybe, when he was done, he could turn against her.
Though...he doubted he had a chance in hell of killing her now. He’d need to attune to Maya. He’d need Tenn’s help. The thought made anger roil inside him—he’d come so far, and he was still relying on the help of others.
Weak. Tomás’s voice floated through his brain. A phantom, but no less potent. Or true.
Aidan pulled through Fire, burned the voice and the weakness away.
“Your will be done,” he said. “Killing them will be a pleasure.”
What surprised him was that he wasn’t certain he meant it.
